Iconic memory refers to the lingering persistence exhibited by the visual system in response to a brief stimulus. A two-part study is proposed which examines the basis for this "memory" in the visual system as well as its implications for other perceptual tasks which employ similar stimulus conditions. The first part of the research consists of two experiments that seek to demonstrate receptor interactions on a standard iconic memory task. Specifically, a psychophysical demonstration of cone inhibition of the rod system is predicted. This inhibition is believed to result in sequential cone- and rod-based icons, since the rod icon becomes available to an observer only after the faster cone system has recovered. This finding will provide impressive support for the recent reinterpretation of iconic memory that argues for its retinal rather than cortical basis. The second half of the study consists of two further experiments that attempt to demonstrate the overlooked role of basic persistence effects in time perception research. The effects of varying the stimulus parameters of size, luminance, and duration will be examined and compared on two different tasks: a duration estimation task adopted from the time perception literature and a probe-to-offset task adopted from the persistence literature. From comparable results on the two tasks, it will be argued that the most parsimonious interpretation of the time perceptioon results is in terms of basic visual persistence effects rather than complex information processing stages that are currently favored. In a final experiment, the effect of the type of stimulus employed on these tasks will also be examined. It will be shown that this variable underlies apparent empirical discrepancies in the time perception literature but that its effects are entirely predictable from a consideration of its influence on retinal persistence.